August 1st – Emancipation Day in Canada: Past, Present, and Future
1628: Olivier le Jeune, about seven years of age, is the first person of African descent, that is known to have been enslaved in New France, on the land that is now part of Canada.
By 1790, an estimated 3,000 enslaved men, women and children of African descent had been brought into British North America. Government was not exempt from slavery’s influence. For example, six of the 16 members of the first Upper Canada Parliament and 14 of the 17 members of the second Parliament or their family members either enslaved Black people or were from slaveholding families.
The first colony in the British Empire to have anti-slavery legislation was Upper Canada, now Ontario. John Graves Simcoe, the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada (1791–1796), passed an Act Against Slavery in 1793, which ended the importation of slaves in Upper Canada and manumitted the future children of female slaves at age twenty-five. BUT it did not free a single slave. It was superseded by the Slavery Abolition Act 1833.
In 2022, Emancipation Day was designated as a National Historic Event (NHE). The official designation was publicly announced by Parks Canada on August 1, 2023.
The plaque was unveiled on August 1, 2024 at the Cathedral Church of St. James, 106 King Street East, Toronto, Ontario.
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On August 1, 2026 the BLACK AND HERE COMMUNITY CENTRE opens in Victoria, BC.
Organizations like BC Black History Awareness Society offset the failure to preserve and teach Black history and the marginalization of African Canadians by ensuring that all generations of African Canadians can learn and explore their heritage in publicly accessible events and resources. Emancipation Day is a time to remember our past and remember the people who fought for freedom. It’s a time to remember those who did not survive. It’s a time to remember our ancestors, upon whose shoulders we stand and be the shoulders for our youth of tomorrow.
The Black and Here Community Centre is a joint initiative of BC Black History Awareness Society and REP HERE in CANADA. Our collective goal and ongoing mission is to ensure an accessible, welcoming, and culturally relevant gathering space for Black communities, newcomers and other equity-deserving groups. More than a physical space, the Centre represents a shared commitment to belonging, creativity, community connection, and civic participation.
The Centre is a flexible, multi-purpose hub, where people feel welcome, represented, and inspired to participate fully in community life. It will host arts and cultural programming, creative workshops, exhibitions, performances, community conversations, training opportunities, storytelling initiatives, and special events. It will also serve as a home for collaborative projects that bring people together across cultures, generations, and lived experiences.
The Centre reflects a simple but powerful belief: when people have opportunities to gather, create, learn, and share their stories; stronger and more connected communities emerge.
In this article:
Emancipation does not mean Equity and Equality
United Nations Decades for People of African Descent
Impacts in Healthcare, Education, Employment
Juneteenth – Reflecting on June 19, 1865 in the United States
Emancipation does not mean Equity and Equality
For those who endured enslavement for centuries, this emancipation would have brought hope and optimism that Canada would be a respectful home and offer meaningful opportunities for their descendants to live, work and flourish. Recent reports explain that Black Canadians continue to experience racism, discrimination and prejudice in all areas of Canadian society including education, healthcare, housing and the justice systems.
This DAY is not just about honouring the past. It continues to have an effect on the lives of African Canadians today.
This DAY is about learning Canada’s collective history — not rewriting that history but telling a more complete history that includes the history of slavery. Even after emancipation, African heritage and history continues to be erased by methods of segregation, murder and systemic marginalization. Canadian history is taught in schools predominately from a Eurocentric perspective that omits or minimizes the human rights violation against African Canadians. Recognizing the Act to Abolish Slavery is a step forward in recognizing African Canadian history as part of Canada’s story and teaches the next generation about the shameful and forgotten parts of the past that must not be repeated.
Slavery and segregation created circumstances of marginalization, a cycle of unequal access, lost opportunities and systemic poverty. Even after slavery was abolished in Canada, African Canadians continue to be devalued and with subpar health care, education and lack of employment opportunities. Communities were legally segregated, creating significant barriers to success. Even though segregation is no longer legal, African Canadians continue to experience systemic anti-Black racism through social exile, through significant economic disparities and through active discrimination. This history gives context to the current circumstance of poverty and violence. Where this context is not provided, poverty and violence are dismissed as individual issues rather than being accurately understood as systemic issues.
A big part of recognition of this DAY is talking about the many segments of Canada’s past that often do not make it into mainstream history-class curricula.
Taking the time to learn about our robust history reveals stories of resilience, victories and communities coming together. Recognition leads to understanding and education, which can then lead to action.
For far too long, the stories of the enslaved and their descendants have been kept alive solely in Black communities. It is time to teach all our children this part of Canada’s history so that we can begin the reparations necessary to address modern-day anti-Black racism and the impact of that racism. There have been calls for an official apology to the descendants of slaves, to bring this issue to the forefront of Canadian consciousness.
This DAY is also about reflecting on our present, taking the time to examine the current circumstances and remembering why Black lives matter. When we talk about intergenerational trauma within African Canadian families, we are looking at generations of trauma stretching back to times of slavery, pre-1834. Tying our present to our past is a way of recognizing how slavery and segregation are actually the roots of anti-Black racism.
This DAY is also about preparing for our future. It is in this preparation and fight for equality that we will prepare the younger generation for success. The United Nations DECADES for People of African Descent calls for recognition, justice and development.
United Nations Decades for People of African Descent
The first International Decade was declared in 2014 and spanned the ten years from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2024. The Second Decade for People of African Descent, 2025 – 2034 was declared on December 17, 2024. The themes continue to be Recognition, Justice and Development with the overall goal – to promote and protect human rights. “The first International Decade, while a significant milestone, fell short in delivering transformative change.” UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner.
In October 2016 a UN Working Group at the invitation of the Canadian government, visited Canada. They met with federal and provincial government agencies including Global Affairs, Statistics Canada, Immigration, Public Safety, RCMP, National Defence, Correctional Services, and the Canadian Human Rights Commission as well as non-governmental organizations and academics. Their report, issued in August 2017, includes an Historical Overview of Canada, Demographics and 41 recommendations related to education, employment, housing, healthcare, justice systems, and policing.
From the conclusions “Despite Canada’s reputation for promoting multiculturalism and diversity, the Working Group is deeply concerned about the structural racism that lies at the core of many Canadian institutions and systemic anti-Black racism that continues to have a negative impact on the human rights situation of African-Canadians.“
For the SECOND DECADE, in a news release on December 18, 2024 the Canadian Government has said they welcome the adoption of a second International Decade. Canada’s statement
Recent Impacts in Healthcare, Education, Employment
Public Health Agency of Canada, published in September 2020
Social determinants and inequities in health for Black Canadians: A Snapshot “aims to highlight how Anti-Black racism and systemic discrimination are key drivers of health inequalities faced by diverse Black Canadian communities.
In November 2021 the Scarborough Charter, a national framework of principles, actions, and commitments was signed by 40 Canadian institutions. The Charter was established to redress systems and structures of inequity, discrimination, marginalization, and exclusion in the Canadian higher education sector that disproportionately affect Black people in the academy and their communities. The Scarborough Charter membership has grown to more than 60 institutions. Their priorities and mandate were supported in a report issued by Statistics Canada in January 2023 “Early career job quality of racialized Canadian graduates with a bachelor’s degree, 2014 to 2017 cohorts” The article reports that today’s Black graduates are discriminated against in terms of jobs offered and pay received. “Two years after graduation, most racialized graduates reported lower employment earnings and fewer opportunities for career advancement than their non-racialized and non-Indigenous counterparts.”
Black Class Action Secretariat (BCAS), a national non-profit organization dedicated to improving the working conditions of Black workers across Canada’s public institutions.
March 21, 2025 – Federal court fails to deliver justice for Black federal public service workers. Public Service Alliance of Canada. “The court’s decision is a stark reminder that Black public service workers continue to be denied justice,” said Sharon DeSousa, PSAC National President. “The federal government has consistently stonewalled efforts to dismantle systemic racism within its own ranks and undermine the lived experiences of Black public service workers.”
Reflecting on June 19th, 1865 in the United States
While Juneteenth is mostly considered an American holiday, those of African-American heritage in Canada and other nearby countries have recognized the importance of the day.
In the United States, the Emancipation Proclamation, issued by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln in September 1862, went into effect on January 1, 1863, but it did not mean immediate freedom from enslavement.
Freedom finally came more than two years later on June 19, 1865 when General Gordon Granger led Union troops into Galveston Bay and declared the more than 250,000 enslaved Black people in Texas free by presidential decree. “Juneteenth” is the day emancipation is celebrated annually in many American communities.
More about Juneteenth
Compiled from various sources
